Page 93 of A Madness of Crows

The insinuation is clear, as I stand and move to his side.

Cecile is frozen, her face pale in what looks like genuine pain.

But Salvatore and I watch each other. I lift one leg, my dress sliding up to reveal bare, golden skin as I swing my leg across and settle on top of him. His face doesn’t change, but his breathing does. I twitch my hips, pushing them down.

His arms wrap around my lower back as I lift my hand, tracing his cheek. My lips hover over his. “Then I’ll try my best to make thismemorablefor you.”

I close my eyes as our lips meet. His hands tighten on me, painful in their grip as I rock into him, our lips moving as I pour every part of my soul into making my husband believe that this isreal.

Every bit of the pain, and fear, and anger. I set it all free, my hands rough as I push them into his hair, gripping the strands and yanking his head back so I can press my lips to his neck, my teeth grazing his skin.

I make it fucking count.

His hands roam my back, my ass, pinching and grabbing as I keep up that rocking movement. Salvatore hardens beneath me, and I moan into his mouth, feeling his breathing quicken with excitement as his hands clasp my hips.

My nails dig into the back of his neck, slide down toward his spine. Dragging, gouging. My nails sink in, so deep that I feel his skin split beneath them, my fingers damp when I pull them away.

He jerks, but I twist his face to mine, leaving faint, bloody fingerprints on his face. Pulling his hand up to the top of my breasts, I trace his fingers over the brand in my skin before I lean back, keeping up that rocking motion. And his hips push beneath me, pushingup.

When I try to stop, to pause, his hand grips my neck, squeezing. My voice is a rasp.

“Wait.” His eyes are lit, lit with excitement and lust as he increases his hold. “I… I want to undress.”

He releases me at that. “Quickly.”

I scramble off his lap, stepping away into the space between him and Cecile as my hands lift to the gold laces keeping my dress up. I hold his gaze, letting him see the promise in my own.

A solid weight settles in my chest as I tug on a lace, loosening it.

His eyes hood, tongue darting out as I shake the first free, and move onto the second.

All the while, I stare at him.

Waiting.

My body is blocking Cecile and Stefan’s gaze, hiding the moment that his eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. His mouth opens, and he swallows. Swallows again, trying to focus his eyes on me.

I step forward, my mouth pressing against his to capture the garbled noise, confusion and growing awareness. My lips travel to his ear as his arms drop. “You’re awfully quiet,husband. Something wrong?”

He makes no reaction to my hiss, his eyes slowly blinking.

I have minutes at best, to make this count. I stay where I am as I loosen the laces further, reaching my hand inside my dress.

It comes out bloody, clutching shards of glass. The broken shards of my mirror.

Taken from the space in my bedroom where I hid them after I smashed that mirror to pieces and lied to everyone about it, even Stefano.

Nobody checked. Nobody questioned it.

“Salvatore?” Cecile’s voice rings out behind me, questioning.

I turn to Cecile with a smile, blocking her view as she tries to look around me. “Do you remember what I said when we first met, Cecile?”

Her lips curl. “What? Get out of the way.”

Stefano’s chair pushes back with a scraping sound as I tap my finger against my lips. “What was it? Ah – I remember now.They will have to untie me at some point.”

Her eyes jerk to mine.